


Five Times (Shepard & Liara Were Interrupted)

by RaeDMagdon



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Accidental Exhibitionism, Exhibitionism, F/F, Fingering, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Magic Strap-Ons, Mild Angst, Mind Meld, OOPS I WROTE FEELINGS, Oral Sex, Strap-Ons, Vanilla, melding, sensation transmitting strap-ons, vanilla sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 12:55:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13411704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaeDMagdon/pseuds/RaeDMagdon
Summary: A portrait of the most beautiful relationship in the galaxy, told through five perspectives in five vignettes. (Or: five times Shepard and Liara were interrupted by their friends during private moments.)





	Five Times (Shepard & Liara Were Interrupted)

**Author's Note:**

> What it says on the tin. Ah, Mass Effect. I'll never be over you. 6 years later, you still have the capacity to make me tear up while writing.

**Ilos, 2183**   
  


Ashley Williams closed her eyes and took a deep breath, gathering the will to approach Shepard’s door. It wasn’t that she was afraid. Well, no more afraid than was reasonable in a situation like this, with Saren and Reapers out to kill them and the entire galaxy at stake. More accurately, she was exhausted. The thought that this could be her last moment of relative peace and quiet before the end made her reluctant. Once she summoned the Commander, her all too brief period of rest would end.   
  
_ As the time draws nigh, glooming, a cloud… a dread beyond, of I know not what, darkens me. _ __  
__  
The stanza from Whitman felt eerily appropriate. Kaidan had died to let her live, but how long would the life he’d bought be? A few more hours? A day? Or would she make it through this after all? Perhaps she would live and wish she hadn’t. Every soldier had a little bit of survivor’s guilt in them, but hers had been kicked into overdrive recently.   
  
_ It doesn’t matter. Stopping Saren and the Reapers — that’s what matters. _   
  
Ashley opened her eyes again. Time marched inexorably forward, and she had no choice but to march with it.   
  
She stepped forward and raised her hand, but before she could knock, the sensors noted her presence and the doors hissed open on their own. Ashley prepared to enter the Commander’s quarters, but what she saw made her pause in mid-stride. Commander Shepard was in her quarters, as expected, but she wasn’t alone. Liara was there too.  _ And not just for a chat, _ Ashley realized with growing surprise. The asari was, in fact, hurrying to zip up her jumpsuit, which obstinately refused to close in the middle.   
  
Liara wasn’t the only one in an awkward state of undress. While trying not to stare, Ashley caught a telling glimpse of Shepard’s well-defined abdominal muscles before the Commander pulled on her compression shirt, poking her head through the top. Her short red hair was mussed, her freckled skin distinctly flushed.   
  
“Ashley?”   
  
Ashley realized she was gaping and snapped her mouth shut, standing at attention. “Ahem. Commander.”   
  
Shepard ran a hand through her hair, then sighed and offered a helpless shrug. “At ease, Williams. No reason to stand on ceremony here.”   
  
“Um, understood?” Ashley relaxed her posture, which took more effort than it should have. “We’re approaching the Mu Relay. Should be just a few minutes.”   
  
“Of course,” Liara murmured. She had finally managed to zip up the front of her jumpsuit, but her cheeks were still a vivid shade of purple. “Excuse me, Gunnery Chief Williams. I’ll just be going…”   
  
She made as if to sidle past Ashley, who was still blocking the doorway, but Shepard placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t, Liara. Stay. Ashley? Get your gear. You’re coming to Ilos with me.”   
  
“Really?” Ashley couldn’t hide her surprise. After cutting short such an embarrassing encounter, she hadn’t expected Shepard to take her on a ground mission. _ Or maybe you didn’t expect her to because of what happened last time. With Kaidan… _   
  
“Really. Suit up and meet me on the bridge in ten. Bring a big gun.”   
  
Ashley felt a strange queasiness in her stomach, one she couldn’t quite define. It wasn’t all unpleasant, either. “Aye-aye, Commander,” she said, offering a salute. She turned to go, but Shepard’s throat cleared behind her, and she paused. “Anything else, ma’am?”   
  
“If you’ve got anything to say to anybody, now’s a good time. A recording’s better than nothing.”   
  
Ashley swallowed, then nodded. “Right. Got it.”   
  
For just a moment, Shepard smiled. “Dismissed, Williams.”   
  
“Thank you, ma’am.”   
  
Ashley left the Captain’s quarters without any more delays, and without turning back. The doors closed behind her, sealing Shepard and Liara back in the privacy of the cabin. Perhaps on another day, Ashley would have been more curious about what they were saying to each other. Nosey, even. Today was not that day.   
  
_ How do you say goodbye? That’s obviously what… that… was. _   
  
But she had her own goodbyes to think about. Sometime in those ten minutes, she’d have to think of something to say to her sisters.   
  
_ If I should die, think only this of me: that there’s some corner of a foreign field _ __  
_ that is forever England. _   
  
A small, sad smile pulled at Ashley’s lips.  __ Some corner of a foreign planet that is forever Earth. It didn’t scan, but that didn’t matter. Somewhere, she hoped, her sisters were thinking about her. Somewhere, she hoped, they were proud of her.

 

***

 

**Hagalaz, 2185**

 

Garrus rocked from heel to toe as the elevator ascended, trying to release some of his excess energy. True, Shepard hadn’t taken him to Hagalaz with Liara, but that was the problem. Part of him had hoped… well, most people would call him crazy for being disappointed because his Commander had decided not to take him on an incredibly dangerous mission to kill the biggest information broker in the galaxy—and most people would probably be right. One didn’t become the most infamous vigilante on Omega by being risk-averse.   
  
The elevator stopped, and Garrus stepped into the small hallway leading to Shepard’s quarters. Though he already knew he’d grabbed the right ones, he checked both bottles of wine he’d brought: one dextro for him, one levo for Shepard and Liara. It would be good to see Liara again, and not just because they were old friends who’d gone to hell and back more than once.   
  
_ According to Shepard, she’s… different… now. But aren’t we all? _   
  
He had sensed it the moment Liara arrived on the ship. It was obvious in her cold, perfunctory greetings, her keenly calibrated focus on taking the Shadowbroker down. She wore the pistol at her side like it was part of her now—not like the old days on the SR1, when she’d been a mediocre shot at best and relied on her biotic training plus a little luck.   
  
_ She’s hardened, and so have I. But lately… _   
  
Being part of Shepard’s crew again had caused him to have doubts. To question himself. The Commander was peeling back the layers he’d built up to protect himself these past two years, and he wanted—no, he needed to know what the cost would be. The cost of continuing down the path that involved putting a bullet through Sidonis’s skull, and then exacting vengeance on everyone else who had ever wronged him. Liara would understand. Aside from Tali, Wrex, Ashley, and Joker, he was the only one who could.   
  
_ Wrex and Ashley aren’t here. Joker will deflect. Tali’s already channeled her pain into helping the Flotilla—she always was a goody two shoes. I would’ve said the same about Liara, a couple of years back. _   
  
He dismissed those thoughts with a sigh. There would be time to ruminate on them later, after he’d delivered his gift of wine and made some observations. And after he’d caught up with Liara, of course. Despite the changes they had both gone through, Garrus still considered her a close friend. One of the only ones he still had, if he was being honest. Aside from Tali and Shepard, the others were dead or scattered.   
  
As he paused in front of the door, Garrus’s ears picked up something unusual: music coming from inside Shepard’s cabin. He frowned. Shepard wasn’t the music-blasting type. When she listened, she usually did so quietly. This was loud, though, loud enough for him to feel the vibrations of the bass in the hallway.   
  
“EDI?” he asked, raising his voice. “Is Shepard in there?”   
  
EDI’s voice came in over the ship’s comms. “Yes, Garrus.”   
  
“What about Liara?”   
  
“Liara is also present,” EDI replied.   
  
“Could you open the door for me? They won’t hear if I knock.”   
  
“Unlocking the door.”   
  
On EDI’s command, the doors opened, and Garrus stepped into the room.   
  
What he saw stopped him in his tracks.   
  
Shepard and Liara were both present, as EDI had said, but she had failed to specify what they were doing. Currently, Shepard had Liara pressed up against a wall beside the faintly glowing fish tank, and was hurriedly peeling her out of a purple and blue dress. Their mouths were joined in a deep kiss, and neither showed any signs of noticing his interruption.   
  
Garrus shook his head, more at himself than the two of them. Some former detective he was. He should have realized what was going on the moment he heard the music, or even before. A little stress relief after a mission was nothing unusual, and the two of them had been a pretty serious item up until Shepard’s ‘death’ two years ago.   
  
He began to back away, hoping to retreat before Shepard or Liara noticed him, but something about the pair caught his eye, causing him to stare a moment longer. It was difficult to tell from a distance, or maybe it was the soft blue light of the tank playing tricks on him, but as he caught a glimpse of Liara’s face, he thought he saw…    
  
_ Is she crying? _   
  
An unfamiliar emotion churned in Garrus’s stomach. Maybe this wasn’t just a little stress relief. She had been softer on the SR-1, sure, but even back then, Liara had never been a bucket of tears. She’d handled Benezia’s death with a surprising amount of strength and resilience. So why was she weeping? And she definitely was—he’d always had a keen eye, and he could see the glistening tear-tracks on her face.   
  
When Liara stripped off Shepard’s compression shirt, revealing her bare back, and when Shepard guided one of Liara’s legs around her waist, Garrus remembered how to move. He left the room as quickly and quietly as possible, returning to the hallway. When the doors closed behind him, he exhaled in relief. Hopefully they hadn’t noticed his exit.   
  
“Why didn’t you tell me what they were doing, EDI?” he asked in a reproachful whisper.   
  
In spite of the loud music, EDI was able to ‘hear’ him just fine. “You never asked.”   
  
“Right.”   
  
Garrus looked at the bottles of wine in his hand, considering what to do with them. He thought he’d glimpsed an open bottle on the table in Shepard’s cabin, but he couldn’t be sure. Other things had drawn most of his attention. Making up his mind, he set the levo bottle down on the floor just outside the door and kept the dextro one, heading for the elevator. It looked like he’d be drinking alone tonight.   
  
Surprisingly, he wasn’t too sad about it. In fact, there was a curious lightness in his chest, one he couldn’t quite identify.   
  
_ I don’t know if I can go back to the way I was. Revert to the person I was before Shepard died, before Sidonis betrayed me, before… but I’m glad Liara can. She deserves that. _

 

***

**Citadel, 2186**

 

Samantha Traynor finished peeling off the last of her clothes, folding her pants and underwear and setting them on the edge of Shepard’s bed. There wasn’t much need, since she would just be putting the same ones back on again in about twenty minutes, but she couldn’t shake the habit. She’d always been fastidious, even as a child. If she’d been about to bathe instead of just taking a dip in the hot tub, she would have brought a separate set entirely.   
  
Stripped of her uniform and skivvies, she went over to the linen closet and withdrew a fresh towel. She couldn’t resist inhaling, savoring the floral scent of detergent. It reminded her instantly of Shepard. The Commander’s clothes had a similar smell—when they weren’t covered in blood, of course.   
__  
_ Stop being creepy,  _ Samantha scolded herself, draping the towel around her neck instead and letting the ends drop down over her breasts. It was a mantra she’d had to repeat quite often during the last several months, one that had almost become routine at this point. Shepard was always perfectly respectful around her, and Samantha had no illusions that her dashing Commander would leave Liara, whom she obviously adored, even for a one-night tryst. Samantha didn’t even want her to. Their relationship was, to put it mildly, too adorable to jeopardize.   
  
_ But there’s no harm in noticing, is there? I can’t be expected to work under such a good-looking woman and not notice. _   
  
_ Heh, under,  _ a far less mature voice snickered in her head.  _ You work under her. Get it? _   
  
With a brisk shake of her head, Samantha headed for the bathroom. Hopefully, a good soak in the hot tub would boil away all those naughty thoughts, and if it didn’t… well, at least she’d have some privacy. Maybe it was a little strange, considering that this was Shepard’s apartment (and had once been Anderson’s), but she soothed her conscience by reminding herself that she could, and would, drain and refill the water before she left.   
  
That thought remained at the forefront of her mind as she opened the door—then vanished completely, along with her ability to move and breathe.   
  
The hot tub was already occupied.   
  
Two figures were partially submerged in the steaming water, one from the shoulders down, one with their backside perched on the rim of the tub itself. Samantha’s eyes were drawn to the more exposed figure first, and her breathing returned with a sharp gasp she couldn’t manage to stifle.   
  
Liara. It was Liara, completely naked and exposed, with her feet dangling in the water and her thighs spread wide. She bore her weight on her hands and arched her spine, breasts thrust into the steamy air, her smooth blue skin glistening with shiny droplets. And between her legs… Samantha nearly choked on her own tongue. Between Liara’s legs was a familiar mop of bright red hair.   
  
Samantha knew she should retreat. It was what one did in terribly embarrassing situations like this. But she couldn’t seem to make her muscles move. She stood perfectly still, goggling like an idiot, too stunned to do anything but stare.   
  
Fortunately, neither Shepard nor Liara seemed to notice. They were too wrapped up in each other. Liara lifted one of her hands, threading graceful fingers through Shepard’s hair, and her moans were loud enough to echo throughout the room. Aside from her own thumping heartbeat, it was all Samantha could hear.   
  
“Shepard,  _ please _ !”   
  
For a moment, Samantha caught a glimpse of Liara’s eyes, and was sure she’d been spotted—but no. They weren’t looking at her. The asari’s eyes were twin pools of black, shining with an otherworldly light that made Samantha feel as if she were looking out into dark space.   
  
__ Oh. She’s…   
  


Samantha had watched some asari porn in her time—the stories were often better than the trite lesbian porn aimed at human males—but seeing the meld in person? She wasn’t even involved, but the intimacy of the act was staggering even as a bystander.   
  
_ You shouldn’t be here. _ __  
  
Finally, she managed to move, retreating from the bathroom as quickly as possible. She closed the door behind her, but since Liara’s moans didn’t stop—in fact, discounting the muffling of the door, they seemed louder—Samantha assumed she hadn’t been seen. She threw the towel aside, not bothering with folding for once, and pulled on her abandoned clothes as fast as possible.   
  
She would have to settle for borrowing Shepard’s shower on the ship, although…   
  
_ Bollocks. I’ve bet they’ve done it in there too. _ __  
  
She sighed. Perhaps her bunk was a better solution. She certainly wouldn’t be fit to return to duty until she took care of this.

 

***

**Thessia, 2186**

 

Thessia was lost.   
  
Tali could scarcely believe it. As she sat at the observation deck’s bar, nursing a drink, part of her wanted to dismiss the Reaper ships she’d seen. She wanted to forget the wreckage she’d viewed, the screams she’d heard over the comms. She hadn’t been on the ground team, so perhaps it was all some horrible dream? Maybe she would wake up, and they would still be en route to asari space, full of the same hope all of them had felt after brokering peace between the quarians and the geth.   
  
But, no. Rannoch’s birth had been followed by Thessia’s death. Her gain had been someone else’s loss. If Shepard had gotten here earlier, maybe the asari wouldn’t have been massacred. Maybe Liara wouldn’t have lost her home planet…   
  
_ No.  _ Tali banished those thoughts, steeling herself against them.  _ This is not your fault. Shepard went where she was needed. She gave the asari plenty of  forewarning—they chose to ignore it.  _ And yet, she couldn’t help feeling guilty. Angry. Grief-stricken. Worse still, whatever she felt, she knew Liara had to be taking it ten times worse.   
  
_ I’m becoming like Shepard, _ she realized.  _ Taking responsibility for entire worlds that aren’t even mine, because someone has to.  _ That was why she’d become an Admiral. She hadn’t ever craved power, everyone had just expected it of her. And when she’d taken up her father’s mantle, she’d found its weight even more exhausting than she had expected.   
  
Tali sighed, pushing her empty glass across the bar. It teetered, but didn’t tip over, although the straw stuck through the top wobbled precariously. There was nothing she could do about Thessia. Even Shepard hadn’t been able to win that battle. But there was something she could do about an individual asari who was grieving its loss—an asari who happened to be her friend.   
  
Liara was probably in the XO’s quarters. She could go there. Offer comfort. To her intoxicated mind, it seemed like a good idea. She stood, gripping the edge of the bar for a moment as the world spun around her. Once she managed to right herself, she stumbled out of the observation deck and down the hall, heading for Liara’s room.   
  
There weren’t many people out and about on the ship. Most were trying to grab a few winks while they could, before the next crisis erupted. The few that Tali passed gave her brief glances of acknowledgment, but nothing more. For that, Tali was grateful. She was on a mission, and she arrived at the XO’s quarters in short order.   
  
The doors were locked when she arrived, but that wasn’t much of a deterrent. Liara had given her an emergency access code—the same one Shepard, Garrus, Ashley, and Joker had. If the worst came to pass and their ship was boarded by Cerberus, they had all promised to destroy Liara’s Shadowbroker files, to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.   
  
_ She’s probably working right now,  _ Tali thought, with sad but fond disapproval.  _ Trying to help the relief efforts. Trying to make herself feel less guilty. Trying to give other people hope since she’s lost hers. _   
  
But when the security panel flashed green and the doors opened, Liara wasn’t at her terminal. She wasn’t conversing with Glyph, who turned in his corner and chirped a greeting—one that Tali didn’t even hear. Liara was in the middle of her bed, completely naked, on her hands and knees. Shepard knelt behind, wearing a flesh-colored shaft between her legs, thrusting with single-minded purpose.   
  
At first, all Tali could do was stare. She had seen Fornax vids, of course, and in the Flotilla’s cramped quarters, everyone tended to stumble on embarrassing situations from time to time. This was different. It was raw, primal, and—when Tali noticed the grit of Liara’s teeth and the tears rolling down her cheeks—heartbreaking. It wasn’t two people messing around, trying to get off. It was two people trying to feel something, even if that something was just more pain.   
  
Shepard moved with the brutality of an unrestrained animal, but Liara didn’t seem to mind. She rocked back with just as much force, accepting everything Shepard had to give, all the muscles in her body quivering. When Tali caught a glimpse of her eyes, they were black whirlpools, glowing with the painful light of a hundred thousand lost souls.   
  
That sobered Tali up in a matter of seconds. She stumbled out of the room, retreating before her friends could notice her. She shuddered, unsure what she was feeling, but suppressed it long enough to hurry over to the elevator and board it. She closed her eyes as she sank down to the lower levels, where the soothing hum of the engines usually made her feel at home. Not this time. She couldn’t shake what she’d seen.   
  
_ I wonder… did Liara ask? Does it help? Is it about punishment? Is it about regret? Or just feeling something? _   
  
The question stayed with her as she returned to her usual post, nodding to Addams, Daniels, and Donnelly. Even Donnelly was quiet for once, which was a relief. Tali wasn’t sure what to say anyway. Though she couldn’t dismiss Shepard and Liara from her mind, her thoughts took a strange turn. Suddenly, she was reminded of Garrus, although she couldn’t say why.   
  
_ Maybe I should ask him for a drink. Before it’s all over. If this is all that’s left, at least I won’t spend the end alone. _

 

***

**Citadel (again), 2186**

 

Javik sucked on his tongue and swallowed, pulling an unpleasant face. The sour taste of alcohol from the night before hadn’t left his mouth. He hadn’t thought it was possible for Primitive beverages to get any worse, but apparently, they also had an aftertaste when one woke up the next morning.  _ Disgusting. I never should have let that Traynor human prepare me a drink. At least it was only repulsive and not poisonous. _   
  
Only after he had accepted the foul flavor did he open his eyes. That was a mistake. The lights on the ceiling were far too bright, and the world, though stable, was painful to look at.  _ It seems the Primitives’ alcohol also causes delayed pain. How horrible. No wonder they are so stupid. Their drinks damage their already-feeble brains. _   
  
He blinked once, then again, gradually growing accustomed to his surroundings. To his mild horror, he was not in a bed, or any sort of respectable place. He was slumped on the floor, back braced against a potted plant, with several abandoned bottles scattered around him. Some of them, he remembered, were his. The others? Who knew where they’d come from.   
  
A loud, rumbling noise had him reaching for his pistol and scrambling to his feet. His instincts had him upright in an instant, but a quick glance around the room showed that there were no enemies in sight. That didn’t mean he was alone, however. Apparently, the potted plant he’d taken shelter under was part of the décor in Shepard’s bedroom… and the bed was occupied.   
  
A noise of surprise escaped him before he could stifle it. Commander Shepard and the asa—and Liara were sprawled beneath a thin, rumpled sheets. The rumbling noise was Shepard’s snores. She was flat on her stomach, drooling onto her pillow, with one arm hanging limp over the edge of the mattress. Liara was beside her, trapped beneath Shepard’s other arm and half of her chest. She was the first to stir, and as she blinked in confusion, Javik took a step back.   
  
“Who… oh. Javik?” Liara hurried to pull the sheets up around her shoulders, shoving Shepard’s arm off so she could sit up. “What are you doing here?”   
  
“What are you doing here?” Javik replied, just to say something. He winced internally at the sound of his own words, but refused to show any outward embarrassment.   
  
“This is my bondmate’s bedroom… which makes it my bedroom.”   
  
Javik’s eyes darted around before landing on the potted plant. “Well, this is my… plant.” It was ridiculous, he knew, but there was no way he would allow Liara to humiliate him. While she stared at him in bemusement, he re-holstered his pistol, picked up the plant by its pot, and turned to stomp out of the room.   
  
As he left, he heard Shepard mumble something from behind him. “Liara… did Javik just steal my plant?”   
  
“Go back to sleep,” Liara said. “You’re dreaming.”   
  
Javik hurried away before he could hear anything else, plant still in tow. _ Hmph. Primitives.  _ He would never understand them… although lately, he had come to admire their fighting spirit. The galaxy was on the edge of destruction, and yet, they persevered. They  _ lived. _ Perhaps there was something he could learn from them after all.


End file.
